


Cole in the Modern Age

by TheWhimsicalBard



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Gen, Modern AU, Modern Era, Self Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:43:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWhimsicalBard/pseuds/TheWhimsicalBard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cole continues to be compassionate and helps the suffering.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cole in the Modern Age

The door to the fire escaped opened up, a young adult in a grey hoodie and worn jeans walked through holding a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He leaned over the railing and held it up. He took a deep sigh and began chugging the whiskey. His eyes were shut tight from the intensity of the drink. He wanted to pull away, not liking the taste nor the burning feeling that came with it but his desire to feel numb overpowered. He dropped the bottle over the railing after finishing and breathed heavily. His switchblade was drawn from his pocket and his sleeves were rolled up.The edge of the blade rested on the skin of his forearm.    
“You’re hurt, you want to punish yourself but you poison yourself first so that the pain is bearable.”

The boy’s eyes widened in surprised of hearing the voice. He turned around, stumbling. His knife was pointed forwards preparing to attack whoever was around. 

“W-wh-who’s there…?”

An oddly dressed individual began walking down the steps of the fire escape. He had long, blond, hair covering his face. He wore a rather large sun hat with a grey beanie duct taped over it. His brown hoodie was all tattered and he wore a grey t-shirt underneath and ripped jeans.

“Me…...I am Cole…and you are Simon….”

“How do you know my name and what do you want?” The knife was pointed towards Cole, his arm was shaking.

“I sensed your pain, I came to help you. I wanted to heal your hurt.”

“Sensed my pain? Look dude, I don’t know who you are but please just leave me alone.”

“You’re scared, I won’t hurt you. I only help people.”

“You can help by leaving me alone.”

“You’ve been clean for seven months, body untouched by metal. It was getting better, now hope blurred.”

Simon froze at what the blond stranger said, how could’ve he known that?

“Pain projects from your eyes, you want it to end, you want it to be over but nothing will help.”

A tear shed from the kid’s eye as he faced down. The knife was dropped. Cole slowly fanned out his arms and inched closer. He gently wrapped his arms him and the boy tensed up.

“I promise not too tightly, I know the slightest touch burns the scars.”

Simon slowly returned the hug resting his head on Cole’s shoulder and beginning to tear.

“He was my best friend…..”   
“It’s not your fault, you gave him memories to cherish. You added merry to his life, made it better.”

“But we’re not friends anymore….he resents me..”   
“You wanted to pass the misunderstanding and reconcile, as did he.”

“He did?”

“He believed you didn’t like him anymore.”   
“Fuck…..fuck fuck fuck!”   
“He’s at peace now, he’s not hurting and he knows you don’t hate him.”

“H-how do you know that..?”

“I tried to save him, but I was too late….and he drowned….”

Simon pulled away from Cole. Fire immediately ignited in his eyes. 

“Y-you were there when he died?”

“I was but too late, he was too deep in the water when I arrived.”   
“So if he died when you arrived….how did you know what he thought of me? Did you just say this to make me feel better? How could you know what he said if he died?”

“I heard him but his mouth didn’t move. Life fleeting from his eyes, I held his hand and made sure it was painless, the last moments he thought about were you.”   
“You’re not making any sense!”

“I comfort the dying and heal the hurt. I made sure your friend was at peace before he died and in return he wanted you to be relieved of this pain.” 

The sudden burst of anger faded quickly from Simon. He knew questioning him more wasn’t going to make anymore sense; plus being drunk wouldn’t bring him any closer to understanding him. It was comforting enough being told that his ex-best friend doesn’t hate him.

“Thank you, Cole…..I-I need to lay down….”

“I’m glad I could help.”

Simon stumbled to the door, Cole taking his arm and putting it over his shoulder to support him.   
“Allow me.”   
Cole opened the door and helped the intoxicated teen to his room. He gently laid him down and moved his wastebasket to the side of his bed. Simon quickly passed out and Cole left his apartment. 

Simon woke up rushing to his bathroom. He vomited the whiskey from earlier, into the toilet. His arm brushed against his mouth as he stumbled to get up and grab a mint from the sink. He flushed the toilet and exited, going out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. His apartment was dark, the only light being the moonlight shining through the glass door to the fire escape and through the windows. He grabbed a glass from his cabinet and filled it with water from the sink. All he could think about right now was how dehydrated he felt. He downed the drink and put the glass in the sink. He treaded to his room slowly and collapsed on his bed. His head turned towards his alarm clock, it was eleven at night. His head turned away but quickly snapped back when he noticed something. There was a green-wrapped gift on the nightstand in front of the clock. He reached out to the gift weakly. It was small and flat, who knows what it could be. He tore off the corner of the wrapping paper, and pulled the gift out of it’s wrap. In his hands was a CD copy of his friend’s songs that he made. A tear escaped Simon’s eye at the sight of this. He closed his eyes and held it to his chest, under his breath he whispered.   
“Thank you, Cole.”

It was dark outside and Cole was walking down the streets alone. He pondered about the course of today’s events as he was making his way home. He neared his house and walked up to the door. His fingers shuffled through his hoodie’s pockets trying to find his key. He tried to be very quiet with opening the door. He didn’t want to wake up or startle the stray cats around. He slowly opened the door and saw Varric inside writing on his laptop. 

“You’re a bit late don’t you think?”   
“I’m sorry Varric, I was helping someone.”   
“You always are kid, you always are.”   
“He needed me, he was hurting.”   
“I’m not chastising you, you’re doing something good. I just worry about you since you’re always arriving home later and later. You’re not what you used to be anymore so I worry about your safety.”   
“I understand, I worry about you too.”   
“What do you mean?”   
“You’re up later and later working on that last chapter of Swords and Shields for Cassandra. You need to rest.”   
Varric chuckled.   
“Yeah you’re right, kid. I told her I’d write it, I never said when.”   
He closed his laptop and got up from his desk.    
“Goodnight Cole, don’t stay up too late.”   
“I won’t, goodnight Varric.”

**Author's Note:**

> Simon is pretty much a self insert


End file.
